Early Life and Career in Canada
Born in Montreal, Pelletier was the son of a baker who in his spare time performed actively as an amateur musician and conducted a community concert band. At the age of 8 he began to study music with Ida Héraly, the wife of clarinetist and bandmaster François Héraly, who taught him piano, music theory, and solfège up through 1914. His older brother Albert taught him to play percussion instruments and at the age of 12 he began playing the drums with the St-Pierre-Apôtre parish temperance band in concerts at a local movie theatre.
In 1910, at the age of 14, Pelletier had his first exposure to opera, a performance of Ambroise Thomas's Mignon at His Majesty's Theatre, Montreal. The performance absolutely enthralled him and he decided that night that he wanted to pursue a career conducting operas. While attempting to find work in the field of opera he took a position as the pianist for the orchestra of the National Theatre in Montreal. In the summer of 1911 he was hired by Henri Delcellier as the rehearsal pianist with the Montreal Opera Company (MOC), remaining there until the company went bankrupt in 1913. While working for the company he married his first wife Berthe Jeannotte, the sister of tenor Albert Clerk-Jeannotte.
The experience of losing his job with the MOC made Pelletier question his potential career opportunities in Canada and he decided that he needed to find a way to go to Europe. Lack of finances prevented him from pursuing this course of action, and he continued his studies in his native city with Alexis Contant (harmony and composition), Alfred La Liberté (piano), and Rodolphe Mathieu (piano). His teachers encouraged him to enter the Prix d'Europe competition which he lost in 1914 but won in 1915. This competition win led to the Quebec government giving him a grant to pursue studies in Europe.
Read more about this topic: Wilfrid Pelletier
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